Wide-ranging talks between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Washington state Department of Ecology on radioactive waste issues at the Hanford Site have apparently not progressed beyond the starting line.
“The parties are still working through some preliminary arrangements,” Ecology spokesman Randy Bradbury said in a Thursday email.
The agencies confirmed in October they were conducting scoping meetings to develop a mutually agreeable agenda for the “holistic” talks.
While Bradbury did not detail what might be delaying the meetings, there are a couple possible reasons in addition to the winter holidays.
For starters, there has been a leadership change at the Ecology Department. Gov. Jay Inslee (D) last month selected senior assistant state attorney general Laura Watson to succeed Maia Bellon, who retired effective Dec. 31. Ecology Deputy Director Polly Zehm is also scheduled to retire at the end of this month.
In addition, the state is seeking to penalize DOE $1 million for allegedly refusing to share certain safety information regarding Hanford. The Energy Department has appealed to the Washington state Pollution Control Hearings Board.
The timetable for vitrification of low-activity radioactive waste into glass at the Waste Treatment Plant, treatment options for high-level waste, and removing waste from old single-shell tanks are among the likely topics for the upcoming discussions, according to letters exchanged between the sides in late 2019.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is also expected to be involved in the talks as the third signer of the 1989 Tri-Party Agreement that governs cleanup milestones for the center that made plutonium from World War II through the Cold War.
Last May, Bellon called for a frank discussion about treatment of 56 million gallons of tank waste at Hanford, and said the state could take DOE to court if they cannot work things out. The state believes DOE is dragging its feet on deadlines set in the Tri-Party Agreement, as well as a 2010 federal court consent decree on cleanup deadlines.
The parties have indicated they would like to wrap up the talks by July. Successful talks could potentially lead to mutually agreed-upon modifications to the current legal agreements.
